This document provides a training course on using decorative elements in Microsoft Word 2007 to make documents less plain. The 3-lesson course covers: 1) Adding watermarks and backgrounds 2) Adding borders, shading, and styles 3) Using special text effects like drop caps, font effects, and WordArt Each lesson includes examples and step-by-step instructions for techniques like adding a picture watermark, applying page borders, using shading to emphasize text, and creating WordArt. Suggested practice tasks are also provided to reinforce the lessons.

1. Microsoft Office
®
Word 2007 Training
Decorate documents with
backgrounds, borders,
and text effects

2. Course contents
• Overview: Less plain, more polished
• Lesson 1: Add a watermark or background
• Lesson 2: Add borders, shading, and styles
• Lesson 3: Use special text effects
Each lesson includes a list of suggested tasks.

3. Overview: Less plain,
more polished
Your document is complete, but it’s begging for
colour, polish, and sparkle, all of which you can
achieve by using decorative elements in Word
2007.
For example, add defining borders to pages and
pictures, use colourful backgrounds for Web
documents, and communicate information using a
page watermark.
This course shows you these snazzy techniques,
and more.

4. Course goals
• Add a custom watermark to printed documents.
• Add a colourful background to Web-based documents.
• Add defining borders to pages, paragraphs, pictures, or
tables.
• Use shading to emphasize headings or paragraphs.
• Give colour and snap to shapes and tables.
• Make headings more professional with text effects and
WordArt.

5. Lesson 1
Add a watermark or background

6. Add a watermark or
background
Do you want to
visually convey that a
document is draft
only? Or that the
information is strictly
confidential?
You can do that with a
watermark.
Example shows what a watermark is. The watermark tells people something
about the document.
Watermarks are semitransparent in colour, so they sit behind and don’t divert
people’s attention from the document’s content. They are for documents that will
be printed.

7. Add a watermark or
background
Another sort of
background, shown in
example , is purely
for decoration and is
intended for
documents you’d post
to a Web site.
You can add all sorts of colourful backgrounds, including solid colours, gradients,
patterns, textures, and even pictures.
The goal is to liven up the page — but you don’t want to make it hard to read.

8. Add a watermark to
a printed document
Here are examples of
watermarks.
The ones with text are
typical of what’s
available in the
watermark gallery in
Word 2007.
Once the watermark’s inserted, you can see it in Print Layout view, in print
preview, or in the printed document.
As this indicates, watermarks are intended for printed documents — they will not
show up in the Web Layout view of the document, which is the view used if you
post the document to a Web site.

9. Add a picture watermark
For a custom
watermark, you can
use either text or a
picture.
These steps show
how you’d create a
picture watermark.
On the Page Layout tab, click Watermark to open the gallery.
Click Custom Watermark, at the bottom of the gallery.

10. Add a picture watermark
For a custom
watermark, you can
use either text or a
picture.
These steps show
how you’d create a
picture watermark.
Click Picture watermark, and select your picture. Use any image on your
computer, or clip art in the Microsoft Clip Organizer.
Your result might look something like the example shown.

11. Add a background
to a Web document
Use a colourful
background to add
boldness or flavour to
Web documents.
You add a background from the Page Layout tab, by clicking Page colour.
From there, you can apply a solid colour or click Fill Effects to choose a
gradient, textured, or patterned background, as shown here. Or, you can apply a
picture from your computer.

12. Add a background
to a Web document
Use a colourful
background to add
boldness or flavour to
Web documents.
Important: Don’t overpower your text with the background you choose. You want
it to complement the text, not make it unreadable.

13. Suggestions for practice
1.Add a text watermark.
2.Add a picture watermark.
3.Save a watermark to the gallery.
4.Add a background to a Web document.
5.Bonus: Set up Word to print backgrounds

14. Lesson 2
Add borders, shading, and styles

15. Add borders, shading,
and styles
Borders, shading, and
decorative effects
aren’t just for holiday
newsletters.
Word gives you many
ways to spruce up
your documents all
year round.
Apply page borders for results ranging from playful to business-sharp.
For pictures, add new style effects, such as shadows and reflections, or simple
borders.
Emphasize whole paragraphs with shading and borders.

16. Add borders, shading,
and styles
Borders, shading, and
decorative effects
aren’t just for holiday
newsletters.
Word gives you many
ways to spruce up
your documents all
year round.
Choose from new table styles to instantly add colour and formatting.
Give flair to shapes with new styles and fill effects.

17. Page borders
You can add full or
partial borders to a
page.
Word provides a
variety of built-in page
borders, from
businesslike to fancy.
You can choose:
• The type of border, from simple box to shadowed to 3-D to a custom style of
your own design.
• The line style, colour, and thickness.
• The artistic style.

18. Page borders
You apply a page
border from the Page
Layout tab, using the
Page Border
command.
And you can preview your border design, so it’s easy to see how your chosen
effect will look.

19. Borders for pictures,
text, and tables
Try borders around
various elements
within a document,
such as the ones
shown here.
Use a border to make a picture stand out.
A border can nicely offset an important quotation.
Borders can be very effective in tables. Apply them to every cell if you want
that look.

20. Borders for pictures,
text, and tables
The methods for
adding borders vary
depending on what
you’re adding a border
to.
For a picture, Word 2007 offers a whole new set of picture styles that include
borders as well as effects such as reflections and shading.
You find these styles by selecting the picture and then working with the Picture
Tools on the Ribbon.

21. Borders for pictures,
text, and tables
The methods for
adding borders vary
depending on what
you’re adding a border
to.
For other graphics, such as tables, and for text, you’ll find border options similar
to those you’d use for page borders.
These are opened from the Page Layout tab.

22. Shading
Use shading to
emphasize text. These
examples give an
idea.
Make a heading stand out.
Use a quotation style and apply a shading background and border to it.
Set off a list.

23. Shading
Use shading to
emphasize text. These
examples give an
idea.
You find shading options in the same place as border options: Start on the Page
Layout tab, and click Page Borders.

24. Quick styles for tables
If you want to give
coordinated colours
and shading to a
table, use one of the
new table styles.
These each have a unique format and use of colour, for a professional result.
It’s more efficient to use a table style than to try to add shading and borders row
by row or cell by cell.

25. Quick styles for tables
The picture shows two
examples of table
styles.
Each draws upon one
set of colours,
available in a theme
called Oriel.
You apply a table style by selecting the table in the document and working with
Table Tools on the Ribbon.

26. Quick styles for shapes
Shapes, such as the
arrows shown here,
have new styling
options in Word 2007.
As with tables, whole packages of finished styles are available to give colour and
instant finish to circles, arrows, text boxes, and myriad other shapes.
The arrows here have three different styles applied.

27. Quick styles for shapes
Shapes have their
own tools, as tables
and pictures do.
You first select the shape, and then work with the Drawing Tools to select a style
— which comes complete with border, look, and type of fill.
You can tinker as you wish with the fill and border.

28. Suggestions for practice 2
1.Add a page border.
2.Apply a border to a picture.
3.Shade a heading.
4.Apply a table style.
5.Add borders to the table.
6.Add a gradient fill and a style to a shape.
7.Use a theme to change the document’s overall
look.

29. Lesson 3
Use special text effects

30. Use special text effects
How do you
emphasize text?
Word offers some
formatting choices for
text that offer more
visual impact than the
old standbys, bold and
italic.
They include:
• A dropped capital letter, used at the start of a document or beginning of a new
chapter.
• Text effects such as emboss, engrave, and shadow.
• WordArt formatting for bold flash.

31. Create a drop cap
An ancient illuminated
text, the start of a fairy
tale, the large first
letter that sometimes
begins a chapter.
In modern typography,
that’s referred to as a
drop cap.
The steps are simple: You select the letter you want to turn into a drop cap, and
click Drop Cap on the Insert tab.
The drop cap sits in a text box, and you can apply any text formatting to it. The
picture shows examples of different fonts you might use.

32. Create a drop cap
You can turn only a
single letter into a
drop cap.
Even if you select a block of text, only the first letter is affected.
Also, only the first letter of a paragraph can become a drop cap.

33. Special font effects
While font style and
colour do a lot to give
impact to text, you can
add a little more to the
look with different
effects.
The picture shows
examples.
An embossing effect makes the text look raised off the page.
An outline effect, removes the solid colour fill in the text.
An engraving effect makes text look pressed into the page.

34. Special font effects
These three effects,
plus shadowing (not
shown) can be used to
make a simple
heading look more like
a logo.
They have more impact on bigger font sizes, sometimes they’re enhanced by bold
or italic formatting, and they’re best used sparingly.

35. Add WordArt
WordArt is not for the
faint of heart.
Where text effects
operate on subtlety,
WordArt is big and
flashy, and treats text
almost like a graphic.
Create WordArt by typing the text you want to style in a WordArt editing dialog
box (opened from the Insert tab).
Once WordArt is applied, you treat the affected text somewhat like a picture. You
click to select it, which makes WordArt Tools available, with several formatting
options on the Format tab.

36. Suggestions for practice 3
1.Add a high-impact font effect.
2.Try out tips for ways to access font
options.
3.Apply a drop cap effect.
4.Insert WordArt.
5.Format the WordArt with a curve,
shadow, and colour.